Balabanova All Over

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Sofia remains an undiscovered gem on the Balkans, but this is slowly beginning to change. Every time I come home to visit, I hear more and more foreign speak on my walks. The 9 spots I’ve included below are the places I return to time and time again on every single visit. They epitomize the best of Sofia to me and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 1… Read More

[Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 21-29, 2019] After gallivanting around Belgium and Luxembourg for a couple of days, I was ready to get to Sofia and just chill. One nice thing about already having been in Europe for a couple of days was that I was about over the jet lag and I could also get to Sofia at a normal time, during the day. When I come directly from the states, flight schedules… Read More

[Brussels, Belgium, Dec 19, 2019] Visiting the European Parliament and the area around Grand Place took up most of my morning. I decided to spend the second half of the day in the upper part of town following a 90-minute walk described in my guidebook. It started at Royal Place, a square just a 15-minute walk uphill from the Maneken Pis statue, where I had ended my lower town sightseeing. I had… Read More

[Brussels, Belgium, Dec 19, 2019] Armed with Rick Steves’ Belgium guidebook, I left my hotel shortly after 8 am. It was still dark – sunrise wasn’t until 8:43 am. I stopped for a coffee at the cafe right next to my hotel and headed for the European Parliament on the east side of the city, about 25 minutes away from the city center by bus. The European Union as you know it… Read More

[Athens, Greece, May 19 ,2019] We began our first full day in Athens with a visit to its most famous landmark, the Acropolis. We knew it would get busy, so we figured we’d avoid the crowds by getting there at 8 am, when it opened. Even though we were staying in the center of Athens, the neighborhood looked like a ghost town on our walk to the Acropolis! Even though the Acropolis… Read More